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Shanghai CFETS-ICAP International Money Broking has resumed broking yuan swaps and forwards after becoming the first interbank dealer to receive a licence from China's foreign exchange regulator, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

The licence allows the firm to broker yuan-denominated swaps, forwards and cross-currency swaps, said the person, who declined to be named.

The licence is dated March 18 but CFETS-ICAP only received it Friday, the person said. The firm started offering the foreign exchange services Monday. China's regulations exclude brokers from the country's foreign exchange spot market.

The person said that CFETS-ICAP received the go-ahead to trade non-yuan swaps in February.

Money brokers, also known as interbank dealers, had earlier provided voice broking services for China's interbank foreign exchange swaps market, but were told to stop doing so by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in February last year.

Brokers say that at the time, they were operating in a regulatory grey area - the rules under which they could do business in China didn't bar them from broking swaps, but the foreign currency regulator hadn't explicitly issued rules regulating how it was to be done.

Under the new regulations, money brokers must post the price of all transactions publicly on China's forex trading platform, and report the details of all transactions to CFETS at the end of the day.